NancyJohnson

On the subject of Rotosounds, sure if you're an endorsee, using multiple basses per night and getting your strings for nowt, then sure they're going to sound great for about an hour and you're going to give them two thumbs up. I just took a look at their artists page. Loads of bands I've never heard of (which I suppose is fine), but my eyes happened upon Queen. 'Now hold on,' I thought to myself, 'Old Brian uses Optima Golds, doesn't he? Has done for decades.' 'Brian May used' and 'John Deacon used'. Being a bit liberal with the facts really.

Elixir Nanowebs here. They last for yonks. I stopped using Rotosounds about 30 years ago. Terrible strings, terrible playing life. Occasionally you'll read these comments along the lines of 'Oh, D'Addario make Fender strings,' but with little (or nothing) to support this statement. I would genuinely be interested in knowing how many manufacturing plants there are and who makes what.

Julian Mullen. He's in Reading. Top man.

Look, enough of this bickering. Yes, I know I'm a Tech21 slut, but that unit sounded the dogs from the very first time I heard it. Just tweak your settings kids...I'm sure that once you get your mitts on this, you'll forget about all these worries about what it will and won't do. Much as I loved my GT2 and other stuff and I still love my BDDI and GED, this baby is going to blow those out of the water. I'm excited as a fat kid waiting for his birthday cake.

I broke a D'Addario once about 18 months ago, during a rehearsal. The set had been on for about a week. The inner core broke where it went through the coloured ball-end. I was able to tie it off and continue. Reported it, nothing. Meh.

There's a later 'fix' that doesn't require doing anything with the jumpers internally. On the rear facia, you can run a patch cable from the deep channel into the return on the effects loop. Then just depress the 'Mix 50/50'button and hey presto, mono output. The front panel knobs work much the same, except the Deep channel output is combined with the Drive channel and the Drive Level One knob on the Drive channel works as an overall output control.

You don't need to open the unit up...

I just figured the BB2 would sound nicer (or more expansive) if I were to use that side for an overdriven channel, given the tweeter would handle a slightly extended hi-range.

Does anyone here own both of these and pair/daisychain them? Occasionally, I want to carry less gear, sometimes I want to run a dual channel set up, sometimes I want to run a bridged mono set up. A 2x12 isn't really an option. Cheers

Ooh, good subject. The Dags: This is what Australian shepherds call the poop that sticks to the wool round a sheeps a-hole. The Irvines Are Back: This was a bit of graffiti written high up on the wall in the queuing area at Universal Studios 'Kongfrontation' ride. Nancy Johnson: From a photograph at the Gregory Crewdson 'Beneath The Roses' exhibition (I can't post it here as it's NSFW). 96 Decibels: Mott The Hoople, innit? Pink Eye: Because it's funny. There was a local band who had a band called Brother Toboggan which was 100% genius.

I don't see any significance in a 50th birthday being a reason to buy something! If you want it and can finance it, go for it. Don't wait just because there's a birthday coming up.

Well, raffle ticket in hand for four hours and with scant whiff of whether my desired purchase was still available (as it happened, not), it was heartening to check eBay once in a while and see the album I wanted being sold in copious quantities at increasingly expensive values. It really does make the whole RSD experience somewhat farcical, seeing individuals leaving the store with carrier bags full of stuff; there are always people out there looking to turn a fast profit, be it today's stuff, concert tickets or Tower Of London poppies. It just depresses me. As my purchase wasn't available and as I'd met up with some friends by chance, I got their stuff for them (Carter USM and The Cure) to save them waiting another two hours before they could gain entry to the shop, so I did feel a little positive. I'll stay in bed next year.

I'm already losing the will to live. The ticketing system isn't working and people are getting restless. I honestly thought people would come knowing what they wanted, in and out, but no. People are browsing. It's been 20 minutes since opening and we're up to about #10.

So it's Record Store Day and I'm here reporting from the front line. It's a beautiful morning here in Crowthorne and here I am at 7.15am at a tiny little place queuing for something I don't even have the hardware to play. Frankly, I'm knackered. My cold woke me from my slumber at 4.00am, a fit of coughing breaking the silence in the house. I am currently surrounded by about 50 equally grey (or balding), dishevelled and tired looking middle-aged men, a few, who I've been told, have actually slept in their cars overnight in their possibly vain attempt to secure a limited piece of vinyl . I suspect many punters will be leaving here empty handed. This is an unearthly hour to be up. The cafe on site probably can't believe the number of cappuccinos they're going to be selling in the next hour. The smell of bacon lingers in the air. On arrival I'm given a raffle ticket to secure my place in the queue. It's number 73. I fear I will be here for some time after the 8.00am opening time. This is Paul Anthony, for Basschat, in Crowthorne.

You know I've never actually gone to a rehearsal place and just gone straight into the PA. Might be fun to just travel light once in a while.

Problem solved.

"Original nut is included"

Well, I've had a reply from Lull and I think the costs will be too prohibitive. They've given me two options, a) Door number one. Find a donor Hamer 12-string that Lull can tear down and attach JAXT4 wings to. They've said that while the ones they've done for JA are fine, they're heavy and suffer from something called neckdive (nope, me neither). Whilst sourcing a Hamer shouldn't be a problem, the logistics alone would just pile on ££s onto the project given Lull are in Seattle; so factor in two/three lots of shipping, along with import duties. There's also the thought in the back of my mind that I could be buying sight-unseen could present me with a dud as a donor instrument. b) Paul Schuster has described a scratch build as being 'super-crazy expensive'...my current Lull pair were this anyway and they're (kind of) stock models. I can imagine the R&D costs just spiralling out of control, especially from the perspective that they've never built one before. So, unfortunately folks, I'm parking the Lull option.

A doctor once told me I was suffering from auto-correction syndrome, but I didn't even know I was I'll.

A-man, you're blessed with the psyche of marathon runner...anything would weigh a ton or look enormous for you! I, on the other hand...

In all honesty, the B12A is the only 12-ver I'm getting a bit moist over, unless: I own a JAXT4 already...I might need to have a noodle in Photoshop and design a headstock. I've wondered for a while whether the existing Lull headstock could incorporate another eight machine heads (probably not). Maybe it could if it was symmetrical.

Hahaha. My trousers are on fire!